ie They are NOT coming from overseas !!
MRS. M.
- By Luke Slattery -
ISBN: 9780732271817
Publisher: Fourth Estate/HarperCollins, Sydney, Australia
Published: 2017
Binding: HARDcover with Dustjacket 314 pages
Condition: UNread & displayed condition! HERE in MELBOURNE! A retired display
copy as illustrated!
Edition: FIRST EDITION: 1st printing
TIGHT, SCARCE HARDCOVER WITH Dustjacket ~ IN MELBOURNE ...
WHY do ebayers buy from US?
Because you KNOW what you're getting. My close up photos are of the actual item!!
Remains UNread - it was the display copy instore . It is Tight - neat, no inscriptions or marks within. Appears as in my photos - this is the exact copy!! A nicely preserved copy - superb!
No discernible shelf wear, the interior is tight and spotlessly clean with 314 pages. THIS copy is the FIRST EDITION: Only printing from 2017 - the Australian publishing by Fourth Estate/HarperCollins, Sydney, NSW.
SCARCE title - this is an UNread copy!!
In original decorative boards HARDcover binding, in publisher's covers which are in excellent condition.
(Stored with 2021!)
Measures approx. 9¾ x 6¾ inches or 25 x 17cms
SYNOPSIS ....
From one of Australia's foremost journalists, Luke Slattery, comes a bravura literary achievement, a rich and intense novel of an imagined history of desire, ambition and dashed dreams, and a portrait of one passionate, unforgettable woman - Elizabeth Macquarie.
Elizabeth Macquarie, widow of the disgraced former Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, is in mourning - not only for her husband, but the loss of their shared dream to transform the penal colony into a bright new world. Over the course of one long sleepless night on the windswept isle of Mull, she remembers her life in that wild and strange country; a revolution of ideas as dramatic as any in history; and her dangerous alliance with the brilliant, mercurial Francis Greenway, the colony's maverick architect. A stirring, provocative and thrilling novel of passion, ideas, reforming zeal and desire.
About the Author
Luke Slattery is a Sydney-based journalist, editor and columnist whose work appears in The Australian, The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review. Internationally he has been published at The New Yorker online, the LA Times, the International Herald Tribune, the UK Spectator, and the US Chronicle of Higher Education. Mrs M is his fifth book, and his first novel.
Very Entertaining & Interesting read!
Reviews
This is a fabulous historical fiction ... it's set in the early days of the NSW Colony and a fictionalisation from the point of view of Elizabeth Macquarie, the wife of one of the most prominent early Governor's of Australia, Lachlan Macquarie.
I really liked this book.... Governor Macquarie influence on the development of the colony in the early nineteenth was very interesting and made more so with the author’s fictional account of Mrs Macquarie’s relationship with the architect.
A fictionalized account of the life of Elizabeth Macquarie ... the story has insights into the life of the early settlement of Sydney Cove, and the devastating effects of the Big report on the reputation of Lachlan Macquarie. The relationship between Mrs M and The Architect ( Francis Greenway) I found a little unbelievable. It was well-written, but for some reason didn't ring true for me - especially the fairytale ending.
Thoroughly enjoyable read! ... In the first place I must say I really enjoyed this book. I will not reprise a synopsis, which has been done in this venue already, but I became totally immersed in the story and just past halfway found I had a page turner.
I was especially impressed by Mrs M’s voice. Of course we have no idea how an educated Georgian Scotswoman spoke and thought - although we might get a clue from Jane Austen - but it seems to me that the author has struck just the right balance of formality and familiarity and indeed there were passages where I felt she had me alone in a quiet corner and was talking to no one else.
There is a tendency with any fiction which has its genesis, however loosely, in real history to believe it a version of what actually happened. This is a novel pure and simple, not historical fiction, not even ‘faction’. It is no more the reality of the fifth Governorship than is I Claudius the true story of an unlikely Roman emperor or The Other Boleyn Girl that of Anne’s unremembered sister. The ‘real’ Mrs M bore two children and her supposed paramour came on a different ship at a different time, never returned to Britain and in all probability they never met. All these 'facts' the author knows and around them has imagined a fiction to suit his purpose. Which is, I believe, to tell a good story as vehicle; to highlight his contention that the fifth Governor brought an unprecedented and underappreciated humanity to his work in this colony and saw it as his duty, perhaps even raison d'etre, to disseminate the spirit of the Enlightenment - which had been particularly strong through the previous century in his native Scotland - to the tabula rasa of an outpost on the far side of the World. And was railroaded by imperious Powers for his trouble.
I have read criticism that this book ignores reprehensible acts committed during the watch of the fifth Governor, murders of indigenous inhabitants. Again, it is a novel, not a history, apologia or hagiography. But the whole story of humanity is a lamentable, two steps forward, one step back climb out of barbarity to an imagined high plain of benevolent perfection and we are not there yet. Not by a long shot. We are a violent tribal species with a unique - so we think - and perplexing ability to both comprehend and deplore our condition. Rationalised slaughter is the undoubtable reason for our evolutionary success and any real historical figure with the titular The Great appended was almost certainly, at the same time, a wholesale butcher.
Australian History lesson in novel form .... Historical fiction is an enjoyable way to read history and this is no exception. Macquarie was one the most important figures in the development and not just because of the many places named after him and his family! His tenure as governor came at a critical time and Mrs M pays tribute to that.
A risk and opportunity in any fiction is the interweaving of the author's voice. There were many occasions where I felt this was interrupting the narrative, particularly where modern sensibilities were expressed through the words of Elizabeth M. I also felt that some of the relational drama was unlikely or soured up for a modern audience, and while I read the book at face value I was keen to read a more objective source once I finished. However, the epilogue written by slattery mollified most of my concerns even as my suspicions were confirmed.
While much of the scenes are set in Sydney, the occasional reprises to Ulva, Mull, rounded out a broader narrative. With ancestors who later came to Sydney from there, and having visited the mausoleum to Macquarie sited there, the combination of places provided a strong resonance with me. But what impressed me most was the conviction Slattery sought to convey regarding Macquarie's legacy of supporting convict emancipation. I suspect both sides of modern Australian politics would like to claim his liberalism, and this is perhaps the greatest tribute to national leaders - not their current polling but the benefit they leave for the future.
A good feel for our early colony ... It was really good to read a book that gives such a good feel for the early colony. It is well-written and really illustrates that Macquarie as ‘the father of Australia’ really is responsible in a large part for our more egalitarian society. It was interesting to read of Macarthur and his opposing ideas as well.
Elizabeth was a sympathetic character. It is hard to believe that the book is written by a man as it feels like he is inside her head. Not sure about the invented relationship with Francis Greenway known as ‘the architect’ but it did allow the author to reveal his importance to the colony at the time and to the buildings that survive that time. Not sure about the ending either.
I thought that the Postscript which explains some of the writing decisions and historical truths and constructions was a useful addition.
A fascinating fictional read ... that made me really think about how little we learn about Macquarie and his wife and their contributions to New South Wales. The story being told from Elizabeth's perspective was so interesting and Slattery did a great job writing from a female perspective. He painted a wonderful scenic picture of the beginnings of New South Wales and it was easy to imagine the colony hard at work. Including the famous Mrs Macquarie's chair into the story was wonderful and whether true or not it added a nice touch to the overall narrative. Nice quick read that was enjoyable for a historical fiction fan.
GREAT READ !! ... The author explains: “I have focused on a socially narrow stratum of early colonial Australia, and neglected the blood and the gore, the pain and the suffering, that became the dominant metaphor for colonial Australia.
. . . I have attempted to say something true about Australian history, or at least to challenge an abiding falsehood — the vision of the first gulag — with that of a social revolution.”
The author says he woke one morning hearing a woman’s voice saying she'd paid the boatman with a bag of cherries, but he had no idea where the voice or thought came from. He’s built an entire novel around that inspiration, and it’s a pretty good read.
Another intriguing inspiration he mentions in the note at the end was his own personal love triangle as a model for the one between Macquarie, Mrs M and the Architect.
I have to say, for a man, he gets into the mind of Mrs M very well. To me, she thinks and sounds like a woman of her time. She’s headstrong and smart but also a bit of a charmer and a flirt. The tension between the three of them is very well done. [I suspect HE may have been the Mrs M in his own life story, but don’t mind me – just a guess. And I don’t think that had anything to do with his expressing her personality so well, either.]
This is not historical fiction, in the usual sense of the term. Slattery has taken real people and completely fabricated a yearning infatuation between them. The author says there is much truth in the historical setting, but the relationships are made up. So you can enjoy it as a romance, which is really what it is, and pick up a bit of Australian history while you’re at it. Lots of good characters and side stories.
This takes place in the early 1800s during Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s time presiding over the convicts, soldiers and emancipated members of the young Sydney colony. His much younger wife, Elizabeth, was with him, and Francis Greenway was, indeed, the convict architect (the Architect) who designed so many of Sydney’s well-known buildings. The three of them oversaw the changes from a penal colony to a thriving community.
But the author takes pains to explain in his note and in an interview I heard that he has invented the sighs and long glances and covert meetings between the wife and the Architect. That’s the fun of the story, of course. His descriptions of the birds and bush and of the windswept Scottish islands are lovely. [ I’m just not moved by unruly curls escaping bonnets or eucalyptus eyes smiling , old fogey that I am.]
Most Sydneysiders are aware of and may have visited Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, a large stone seat carved from rock in The Domain on the south side of Sydney Harbour. The novel has it that the Architect fashioned it and that she felt a strong connection to him when she was there reading and gazing out to sea, which was often. That last part seems to be true, but probably not thinking about him. Still, makes for a good story, eh?
“He has been as good as his word. My promised chair is now complete. Rather more bench than chair, it requires a few cushions for perfect comfort, though nothing more than that. Commanding a fine view of the harbour, my retreat is shaded by a fig tree twisting into a parasol of dense dark leaves, some of which turn persimmon yellow in dry weather.
Governor Macquarie was many years her senior and was often busy fighting off political foes who thought he was far too easy on the convicts and Aborigines and hard on the soldiers. They wanted all the power and glory for themselves
His view was that the convicts who were later freed were the powerhouse that was building the country. They were so anxious to better themselves and improve their lot that they worked harder than the soldiers. He acknowledged that the Aborigines had been dispossessed and that the newcomers needed the indigenous skills and experience to survive in this very different land. The soldiers were not always thrilled with their Antipodean posting and I wonder how much it cost to keep them in rum.
The political argybargy, to use the technical term, sounds a lot like today’s. Disagreement on how best to manage ‘jobs and growth” and whom to trust. Not much changes.
An interesting aside about Greenway, courtesy of Wikipedia:
“Greenway's face was shown on the first Australian decimal-currency $10 note (1966–93), making him probably the only convicted forger in the world to be honoured on a banknote.”
If I have a reservation about this, it’s that I worry that people will eventually believe the love story along with the historical facts. The affair often portrayed between Elizabeth the First and Essex, for example, had a lot of evidence to support the rumours, whereas Mrs M and the Architect is more of a “what if?” imagining. But it's an entertaining one.
I think this will find a lot of fans!
Marvellous Reading!
WHY do ebayers buy from US?
Because you KNOW what you're getting. My close up photos are of the actual item & form part of my description!!
POSTAGE IS $9.90 WITHIN AUSTRALIA
We pack your books with care - using secure, lightweight, waterproof packaging to ensure that they are well protected in transit.
*All items will be shipped within 3 business days of receipt of payment. Payment can be made by Direct Deposit Bank Transfer or Paypal.
Check out my other items-
*Buyer to make contact within 3 days of auction end and payment within 5 days.
*Cash on pick up is fine.
*Bank deposit & PAYPAL available.
*Any questions? Just ask!
Please look for my other
items in our new Ebay Store
'Jingle Bells Books'
~ as there are lots & lots of old, RARE and COLLECTABLE BOOKS to be cleared from our bookshelves. We're new retirees downsizing from 30+ years teaching & clearing an 80 year, 3 generation private family collection of often valuable books ! *HAPPY TO COMBINE POSTAGE up to 3kilos of BOOKS can post WITHIN Australia for $16.90!
THANKS FOR DROPPING BY